Belle Haven Pizzeria "The Haven" — Restaurant in Virginia

Normally I wouldn’t leave a review, but I feel as though I didn’t get my money’s worth. I’ll start by saying we did place a pickup order, but I will follow that by saying we did open it in the car 2 minutes after it got placed on the to go shelf. The is ONLY about the pizzas and the salads we received. I’m sure they have a lot of other great options and I will say every person I interacted with was nothing but nice and professional, but based on the issues below, we would never return. The dough - it was TOUGH, and I mean tough. You guys are a wood fire pizzeria! Where’s the crisp? That undercarriage was soft with tons of flop! A couple minutes after coming out, there shouldn’t not be a crisp on that crust. Maybe it was put in the box too quick? The dough was either overworked or old, maybe even the wrong flour/mix. I mean I like a somewhat chewy crust, not what I expect from a wood fire place, but this was “I just pulled it out the fridge two days after I bought it” chewy. Also, it had no flavor whatsoever. Anyone who knows a good dough knows it has a distinct, great flavor. This was absent of any.

The sauce - Neither here nor there. No flavor, maybe a little “metallicy” like it has too much paste, but not much flavor and really nothing of note.

The cheese - Nothing special. Just like the sauce, it had kind of a muted flavor. You know it’s cheese, but that good cooked mozz flavor never comes.

the toppings - not the worst, but a little sloppy. When you cut your pizzas in quarters, you should make sure that each quarter has the toppings you market to be on the pie. Not bad quality toppings, but the sausage missed the mark. It was like a good seasoned ground beef, but missing that Italian sausage spice flavor. One thing I am thankful for is that the prosciutto wasn’t nuked.

The salads - They have decent salads, dressing were good. Big ups on the homemade croutons. It’s a great, easy, and delicious touch to the salad. The only issue was on the Belle Haven salad. When you shave Brussels sprouts into a salad, have someone prep the sprouts properly. I shouldn’t get a hard piece where it was attached to the stem or the hard core of the sprout. A couple extra cuts is all it takes! I would also recommend if you decide get this salad, add a cheese, goat or blue. The salad was good, but was just missing that little sharpness from a good cheese.

The price- I am all for paying a premium price for premium food. Going to a “pizzeria” getting take out, and paying just under $100 for three 10” pies and two salads with the quality we received, feels like we were taken advantage of. The idea for what this pizza should be is great and I hope it gets there, but the reality of the execution does not warrant the premium price it carries. With it being almost $20 for a 10”, I expect it to be great, but this is not what we received.

The conclusion - I hope this restaurant gets it together and I mean no ill will towards anyone there. This is about the food and not the people. I hope this review, if actually seen by owners, causes some change in the back and either they change some ingredients or teach their staff how to prepare/maintain them right.

With 4.5 stars I assume this isn’t the case with everyone, but this was my experience. My wife is from Long Island, NY and she seconds my review. 👍 I hope you go check it out...

TLDR: Don't order the pancakes unless you like them pasty and gummy, because apparently "that's just how they make them,"! Also, the Bloody Mary was both watered down and had way too much of a bite from whatever well vodka was used. Just needed more mix in it most likely.

I love this place and these comments only apply to the recent menu change era and more specifically the pancakes and Bloody Mary.

I bit into the pancakes and got a mouthful of hot chewy paste. It was clear that the batter didn’t rise enough. Whether it was the recipe being off, the rising agent being inert, or the batter being over-mixed, it made for a wholly inedible experience. When the server asked if everything was alright I mentioned the pancakes were gummy and she took them back. When they came back to the table it became blatantly obvious that whoever was on the line just put the same pancakes back on range. So now they were just hotter, dryer, and of course still gummy and pasty.

I mentioned to the server that they might want to talk to someone in the back of house about the batter being off potentially, but she told me "people love it this way"...which...I mean...people love all kinds of horrible stuff (see jellied eels, James Cordon, daytime talk shows, vegemite, etc.), but I can't image the person who made them would stand by them as "pancakes" or "good".

Look, I have eaten terrible pancakes across America, but this was a first for this particular texture and I got the bonus of being gaslit that, "actually people order them all the time and love them, m'kay," so I must be mistaken Apologies.

Service was fine outside of this interaction, but I'll say that it is obvious when the people serving you something don't eat it or have no idea what the real deal looks or tastes like. The bartender that made my Bloody clearly doesn't enjoy drinking them so he/she didn't know that in the proportions they made it, that it would taste like jet fuel rat p!ss. Just like how I have to imagine the server wasn't really a 'pancake person'.

Oh, you like your pancakes fluffy, warm, and ready to sop up some butter and syrup? How about you go somewhere else with the rest of the pancake elitists and leave these hot, gummy little gems to the people who actually have good taste!?

I could keep riffing on this, but what's the point, this is just cheaper than therapy and I have...

Del Rey Pizzeria's Belle Haven location makes me wish I still lived around the corner from the lot that was formerly Pat's Market. With the loss of Ceviche and Pupusas by the former neighborhood convenience mart that sold bags of ice and live bait, in comes Del Rey Pizza to bring a gathering hub to the lower Belle View/Belle Haven area, whose choices were once limited to whatever was in the Belle View Shopping Center. Granted pizza at Primo's after little league tournaments was a great standby for families. Though Del Rey Pizza brings a welcome breath of fresh air to the community.

I have never actually eaten at the location that presumable gave the Pizzeria it's namesake, so I can't compare the two locations. My experience here, was good. The Pizza was wonderful, they had a large selection of interesting topping combinations, and if nothing strikes your fancy, there's the create your own option.

The restaurants interior is much larger than the outside appears to be. The atmosphere is warm and modern. It feels local.

The pizza options come in ten, twelve, and fourteen inch pies, though the ten & fourteen inch options are more of a thinner crust and the twelve inch teeters on the line of being a deep dish style pie, your waiter should explain this to you.

The 14" Butcher's Cut ($19) was a great option and I did add smoked mozzarella as an additional topping because I'm a sucker for any smoky flavors. The crust was decent, though it could've been somewhat crispier, it was still a good pizza none the less.

Service was very good though it took a while to catch our waiters attention in order to settle the check.

They have a large selection of craft beers, and many from local breweries. AND they have growlers.

There's also a custard stand next door, I'll be sure to try. Probably would have hadn't I been en route to Ben & Jerry's to redeem a Specialicious voucher that was to expire the same day.

I may be a little late, but welcome to the neighborhood Del Rey Pizzeria, you're a much...